975. 7L6^ 

Starr,    John 

GSt2s 

Some    facts  concerning 

Linccln    the   versatile, 

Address   Feb.    3  2,    \92I4 

LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 
the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


Some  Facts 

Concerning 

Lincoln 

The  Versatile 

Remarks  before  the  Lincoln  Day 

Luncheon  of  Millersburg  Chapter 

No.  326,  Order  of  the 

Eastern  Star 

February  12,  1924 
By  John  W.  Starr,  Jr. 

BE  Fifty  Copies  Printed1  SB 


Madam  Toastmistress, 

Members  of  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star 

and  Fellow-Guests: 


While  Abraham  Lincoln  has  not  been  generally  regarded  as 
a  versatile  man,  yet  it  is  in  that  light  that  we  wish  to  present  a 
few  facts  for  your  consideration  this  evening. 

In  his  youth  and  early  manhood,  he  served  as  farmhand, 
flatboatman,  ferryman,  railsplitter,  storekeeper,  soldier,  survey- 
or, postmaster  and  legislator,  before  he  took  up  the  study  of  law 
at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  after  contemplating  blacksmithing. 

During  his  public  career  he  served  four  terms  in  the  Illinois 
Legislature;  was  a  United  States  Senatorial  aspirant  twice  and 
defeated  both  times;  received  110  votes  on  the  first  ballot  for 
Vice  President  at  the  first  National  Republican  Convention  held 
in  Philadelphia  in  1856,  and  finally  in  1860  and  again  in  1864  re- 
ceived the  highest  honor  it  is  possible  to  receive  in  the  gift  of 
the  American  people. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  1836,  when  a  candidate  for 
the  legislature,  he  declared  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage — a  state- 
ment far  in  advance  of  his  times. 

In  the  Black  Hawk  Indian  war  he  received  a  commission  of 
Captain  which  he  was  afterwards  entitled  to  U3e,  but  his  was  not 
the  nature  to  make  use  of  an  empty  military  honor. 

During  his  Presidency  he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws  from  Princeton  University,  which  he  greatly  appreciated. 

While  Abraham  Lincoln  was  always  ready  to  defend  the 
widow  and  the  helpless,  yet  it  would  be  entirely  appropriate  to 
refer  to  him  as  a  corporation  lawyer,  for  during  the  height  of 
his  legal  career,  he  served  the  leading  corporations  of  his  own 
and  near-by  States  as  attorney,  including  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  the  leading  corporation  of  the  State  of  Illinois  in  his 


day.  In  the  capacity  of  attorney  for  the  different  transportation 
systems  he  was  entitled  to  and  used  the  free  passes  issued  by  the 
various  roads. 

He  was  a  sagacious  politician,  in  the  best  use  of  the  term, 
but  acted  always  for  what  he  felt  were  for  the  best  interests. 

His  statesmanship  and  diplomacy  were  second  to  none,  and 
in  the  frequent  clashes  he  had  with  the  greatest  minds  of  his 
own  and  the  opposing  political  party  during  his  Presidency,  he 
never  came  out  second  best. 

While  knowing  practically  nothing  of  the  technicalities  of 
warfare,  yet  he  has  been  pronounced  by  military  writers  as  a 
great  military  strategist;  he  also  kept  himself  well  posted  on  the 
naval  operations. 

As  President,  he  had  on  foot  a  colonization  scheme  for  the 
American  negro;  was  looking  forward  to  the  construction  of  a 
Panama  Canal,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  contemplat- 
ed the  prohibition  or  at  least  drastic  regulation  of  the  liquor 
traffic  at  the  time  of  his  assassination. 

This  man,  who  had  less  than  a  year's  schooling  all  told,  be- 
came a  master  of  the  English  language. 

There  hangs  on  the  walls  of  Oxford  University,  as  an  ex- 
ample of  English  prose,  a  copy  of  a  letter  he  wrote  while  Presi- 
dent to  the  mother  of  five  sons  who  had  been  reported  slain  in 
battle. 

Of  his  address  at  the  battlefield  of  Gettysburg,  it  has  been 
said  that  there  is  nothing  to  surpass  it  in  simple  eloquence  in  all 
history,  ancient  or  modern;  and  his  Second  Inaugural  has  been 
compared  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

He  is  noted  as  a  man  of  letters. 

For  his  day  and  generation,  he  traveled  more  or  less  exten- 
sively as  he  had  opportunity,  and  enjoyed  sight-seeing.  He  had 
been  to  the  New  Orleans  slave  market,  saw  the  mighty  Nigara, 
knew  Broadway,  New  York;  Broad  Street,  Philadelphia,  and  had 
visited  many  of  the  other  leading  cities  of  the  east. 


In  his  younger  days  he  tried  his  hand  at  poetry;  had  the 
poetic  instinct,  and  from  what  we  have  on  record  today  would 
probably  have  made  a  fair  success  had  he  chosen  to  go  further 
along  this  line. 

He  was  more  familiar  with  the  Bible,  and  on  almost  any 
occasion  could  quote  therefrom  more  readily  than  we  will  venture 
to  say  can  any  of  our  public  men  of  today. 

While  not  a  member  of  any  church,  yet  in  his  later  years  he 
was  a  regular  attendant  upon  church  services  and  believed  thoro- 
ly  ill  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  During  the  days  of  the  Civil  War 
period  he  even  attended  the  mid-week  prayer  service  as  oppor- 
tunity permitted. 

He  was  not  a  member  of  any  fraternal  organization,  al- 
though it  is  claimed  that  he  must  have  had  some  knowledge  of 
Freemasonry.  The  only  lodge  so  far  as  it  is  known  authentically 
that  he  ever  joined,  was  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  and  after  join- 
ing there  is  no  evidence  he  ever  attended. 

He  had  a  good  mind,  and  could  digest  mentally  everything 
he  read  which  was  worth  while.  When  forty  years  of  age,  after 
his  single  term  in  Congress,  he  studied  and  mastered  the  book  of 
Euclid.  He  intensively  read  religious  philosophy,  science  and 
mathematics. 

He  was  interested  in  inventions,  and  there  is  today  in  the 
Patent  Office  at  Washington  the  model  of  a  patent  he  took  out 
after  leaving  Congress,  for  lifting  vessels  over  shoals. 

Lincoln  was  a  lover  of  good  literature,  could  quote  from 
Burns,  Byron,  Holmes  and  Shakespeare,  and  could  declaim  at 
length  from  the  Bard  of  Avon  very  creditably  in  private. 

He  enjoyed  attending  the  theatre:  be  it  a  minstrel  show  or 
a  Shakesperian  play. 

Flowers  he  adored.  In  the  social  line  he  played  chess  and 
checkers  fairly  well,  danced  as  well  as  could  be  expected  when 
the  occasion  required,  but  billiards,  a  game  which  he  enjoyed,  he 
played  but  poorly. 


Abraham  Lincoln  had  a  wonderful  memory  and  the  faculty 
of  making  everyone  feel  at  ease  in  his  presence,  even  while  hold- 
ing the  highest  office  in  the  land. 

Contrary  to  common  belief,  there  was  nothing  uncouth  or 
unsymmetrical  in  his  appearance. 

He  was  personally  a  brave  man,  both  morally  and  physically. 

There  was  a  strain  of  the  supernatural  in  his  make-up  and 
he  believed  more  or  less  implicitly  in  dreams. 

He  loved  children  and  was  an  indulgent  father. 

He  could  comport  himself  with  ease  in  the  presence  of  the 
biggest  men  of  the  nation  politically,  and  delighted  in  lengthy 
interviews  with  such  eminent  scientists  as  Prof.  Joseph  Henry, 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  and  Prof.  Louis  Agassiz.  Yet  he 
could  keep  high  dignitaries  cooling  their  heels  in  the  ante-room, 
while  he  performed  an  act  of  mercy  for  some  one  of  his  hapless 
constituency. 

His  mind  could  readily  grasp  any  mechanical  problem  and 
he  had  a  faculty  for  comprehending  and  understanding  ma- 
chinery. 

A  story  illustrating  his  interest  in  things  mechanical  is  told 
by  an  associate  at  the  Bar,  and  with  this  we  close. 

During  the  course  of  a  patent  case  in  the  Federal  Court  at 
Springfield,  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  appeared  as  attorney  for 
one  of  the  contending  parties,  several  models  representing  differ- 
ent machines  were  introduced  and  placed  on  the  floor  before  the 
jury. 

In  the  course  of  the  presentation  of  Lincoln's  argument,  he 
knelt  down  to  get  a  better  view  of  the  models,  and  the  jurors  in 
their  interest  also  got  on  their  knees. 

Seeing  this,  one  of  the  opposing  attorneys  said  to  his  as- 
sociate in  a  voice  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  those  near-by: 

"Williams,  I  guess  our  case  has  gone  to  hell ;  Lincoln  and  the 
jury  are  on  their  knees  together/' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILUNOIS-URBANA 
S2SR&OMM  LINCOLN.  THE  VERSA 


3  0112  031822536 


